About

Our aims

LAB works to:

bring news from the frontline of Latin America’s struggles for social justice

Make sense of a continent’s stories

Promote media networks and partnerships

News from the frontline of Latin America’s struggles for social justice

Latin America is undergoing dynamic change and the world has much to learn from the experiences of its people. The continent is the birthplace of radical ideas about the pursuit of social justice, about sustainable alternatives to agribusiness and to the development models pursued by multinational corporations, about dealing with the legacy of state violence and authoritarianism, and about building truly popular, participative forms of democracy.

LAB amplifies the voices of those fighting for social justice in Latin America by reporting from the viewpoint of the region’s poor and marginalised communities, its indigenous peoples, women’s groups and trade unions, and its ethnic minorities and faith communities, and by bringing to light their stories of resistance and their campaigns for change.

Making sense of a continent’s stories

LAB’s detailed, consistent analysis draws together the continent’s wealth of campaigns, voices and stories, making sense of them in a wider context and charting the progress and reverses in issues such as human rights, climate change, democratic governance, extractive industries, land distribution and food production.

LAB brings an alternative, critical awareness and understanding of Latin America to readers across the English-speaking world, whether activists, academics, researchers or the business community.

Promoting media networks and partnerships

LAB plays a special role as a networking hub for its partner communities, by linking their concerns and campaigns to those of other similar groups across the continent, and acting as a gateway to readers outside the region.

LAB has been reporting and publishing on Latin America since the 1970s, with its roots in a founding commitment to denounce the state violence and human rights abuses perpetrated by the region’s dictatorships. Over the subsequent decades, LAB’s UK-based network of experts has continued to provide news and commentary on many aspects of political, socio-economic and environmental change in the post-authoritarian era, always maintaining a grassroots perspective on what development has meant to the region’s 600 million people.

Our Aims

To be a trusted source of news and analysis on Latin America.

To maintain our journalistic independence.

To report unbiased and accurate news, and to explain the issues.

To report in a non-partisan and non-ideological manner, adhering to traditions of journalistic impartiality.

To report on the activities of large businesses and corporations as well as government policies that affect the poor and oppressed, and to hold such institution to account.

To give a voice to communities, organisations and groups in Latin America. who campaign for social justice and to help them reach the widest possible audience within the English-speaking world.

To assist, support and train our partners, correspondents, students and others to tell their stories more effectively in words and images in print, on the internet and through social media.

Our Values

To maintain a democratic and non-hierarchical structure within our organisation.

To operate an equal opportunity policy.

To maintain independence from any political or religious grouping.

To operate ethically with all who work with LAB and conduct ourselves respectfully with all our outside contacts, especially in Latin America.